Sol 5.6

  1. Damascus yearned to behold your lofty glory,

    and came to long for your noble essence.

  2. She longed intensely to meet you, and from

    news of you she inhales the east wind’s perfume.

  3. Through you her dwellings shone with delight,

    and came to embody the character of days of fidelity.

  4. Joyfully the crescents of her horizon beamed,

    and her full moons shone radiant with glad tidings.

  5. Her gardens, musky in their breath, have

    soared aloft; without your fragrance they yield no scent.

  6. The breeze sang of love when her birds sang,

    and the leafy hands of the branches clapped.

  7. The trees, in their overflowing joy—their hands

    were hennaed, and in their happiness they wreathed themselves.

  8. Upon the pulpits of her groves, her birds

    cooed in cadence, and in their joy almost spoke.

  9. Her streams grew sweet, and their clarity increased;

    the water flowed, rippling and shimmering.

  10. The grove’s tawny partridge murmured,

    and the stag nearly flew for joy.

  11. Life-giving rain crowned the earth and its meadows,

    and the splendor of a crown now rests upon them.

  12. My lord, when you ask the clouds of his bounty to rain,

    you find him an ocean, surging with generosity.

  13. He shows you his face, radiant with splendor;

    when he gives, it is as though you were the benefactor.

  14. Call him a lion: he is more formidable in assault;

    or call him a rain cloud: he pours more abundantly still.

  15. When he appears, he is a fruit-laden bough;

    when he smiles, a shining full moon.

  16. All humanity loves his noble virtues and wanders

    madly enamored of them—for noble virtues inspire love.

  17. No fault is in him, except that in his largesse

    I nearly drown whenever it swells.

  18. I swear by his generous right hand: it is

    the purest and truest right hand among humankind.

  19. Generosity and noble deeds are his very nature,

    created in him—not like one who merely affects them.

  20. May those beneficent hands prosper in their striving; truly they are

    like a garden, fruiting with gifts and putting forth leaves.

  21. He is the noble steed who has secured the lead,

    attaining through glory honors none can overtake.

  22. When steeds race one another toward the heights,

    he is the one among them who arrives there first.

  23. Good fortune has become his obedient servant;

    O servant of his, thus are you blessed with success.

  24. My lord, Taj al-Din, O you who have risen high,

    above whom the banners of felicity flutter,

  25. take this poem as a bride come from her chamber,

    unveiling herself, radiant in a robe of beauties.

  26. From you she seeks her bridal gift at her wedding;

    perhaps you will graciously bestow it upon her in fulfillment.

  27. And perhaps, when the meanings of her beauty are recited,

    she will be entertained, favored with acceptance, and provided for.

  28. So extend a hand to me—may I never be denied its bounty—

    a hand from which gifts are apportioned and scattered.

  29. Today the market for poetry has gone slack,

    but I hope it will find a buyer with you.

  30. Though I possess abundance in speech, what

    can eloquence avail when my livelihood is straitened?

  31. May you never cease ascending the rising stairs of glory,

    forever, while fortune’s eye gazes toward you.

  32. And may you remain, with unerring judgment, luxuriating

    in a grace whose gates are never closed,

  33. as long as the sanctuary’s doves voice their melody

    and a ring-necked dove sings upon an arak bough.

Sol 5.6